Rail supply industry responds to the formation of five new Network Rail regions

24 June 2019

The Railway Industry Association (RIA), the UK trade body for rail suppliers, has welcomed the first phase of Network Rail’s reorganisation, which includes the formation of five new regions, with 14 routes within them.

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said:  “The Railway Industry Association welcomes the creation of five new regions, as part of Network Rail’s move to a more devolved, customer-focused organisation.
 
“The coming years are crucial for the rail industry. Demand for rail services continues to rise, with passenger numbers doubling over the past 20 years and freight growing significantly too. Network Rail and the industry now has £48 billion of work to deliver over the next five years to ensure the UK’s rail network runs in an efficient, reliable and safe manner, and we have challenges from Government to decarbonise and digitalise too.

“Within this context, it is crucial rail businesses have visibility about what projects are coming to market, a smooth profile of workloads, rather than ‘boom and bust’ funding, and a clear and accessible Network Rail structure that allows for collaboration between supplier and client. We hope that the changes announced today will help make Network Rail even more outward looking, create a business-focused organisation which treats rail suppliers as key partners in infrastructure delivery whilst also ensuring consistency in approach between the central team and the devolved regions. And we look forward to working with Network Rail and this new structure, to deliver the ambitious programme of work over the coming years, and provide even more benefits to passengers and freight users.”

1. The Network Rail announcement can be found here.
2. About RIA: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the voice of the UK rail supply community. We help to grow a sustainable, high-performing, railway supply industry, and to export UK rail expertise and products. We promote and represent our members’ interests to policy makers, clients and other stakeholders in the UK and overseas. RIA has 280+ companies in membership in a sector that contributes £36 billion in economic growth and £11 billion in tax revenue each year, as well as employing 600,000 people—more than the workforce of Birmingham. It is also a growing industry with the number of rail journeys expected to double over the next 25 years and freight set to grow significantly too. RIA’s membership is active across the whole of railway supply, covering a diverse range of products and services and including both multi-national companies and SMEs (60% by number). RIA works to promote the importance of the rail system to UK plc, to help export UK expertise around the globe and to share best practice and innovation across the industry